Test To Track Traffic Using GPS Cell Phones

East Bay Business Times
February 1, 2008

Researchers at UC-Berkeley will join in a field test Feb. 8 to study how traffic flow can be monitored using data from driver’s GPS-enabled cell phones.

The researchers will look at the potential of using cell phone data instead of the road sensors currently used, while at the same time preserving phone users’ privacy.

The experiment, dubbed Mobile Century, will involve a fleet of 100 cars with drivers carrying Nokia cell phones. They will travel a loop along a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 880 between Hayward and Fremont.

The experiment is a joint project between researchers at the UC-Berkeley’s California Center for Innovative Transportation and the Nokia Research Center in Palo Alto.